Second Chance
by Shadow Phantom
Summary: A romantic comedy focusing on...Percy and Penelope? Although, under no circumstances does Penelope love Percy. At all. So, ha.


Disclaimer: JK owns everything, She who is the glorious creator…or something…

Rated PG for: Uh…slight insanity…

AN: Oh man. A few weeks ago, for really no reason at all I fell hopelessly in love with Percy/Penelope. I wanted to find some way to explain why Percy acted like such a jerk, and so I wrote this. I adore the thought of Penelope as really fun; it balances Percy in a crazy sort of way. So, jump aboard. You thought you hated Percy, but give the poor guy a…

Second Chance

Penelope Clearwater stared at the words in front of her, anger boiling in the pit of her stomach.

"Ooh, that…boy!" she spat angrily to herself. After a year of skirting around the topic of his family, Percy Weasley had finally decided to come clean. Though, she thought, he'd need a great deal of soap to get rid of _this _dirt. 

"Dearest Penny," she read aloud with a snort. "I haven't been completely honest with you about my family, and although things are all right again, I love you too much to conceal the truth any longer." Although she must have read it five times already, she was still unpleasantly surprised. 

If he thought he would be forgiven for deciding to tell her the truth he was sorely mistaken.

True, it was hard to find a boy like Percy Weasley. He was smart and ambitious, and could be terribly funny (although Penelope wasn't sure he was trying to be sometimes), and she knew a side of him that many others did not. For example, he was a big romantic, and did make silly mistakes, could laugh at himself, and when he talked about work it wasn't all excitement and enthusiasm. 

"It's all about appearances," he had told her. "If they don't think you're eager to do their bidding then you'll never get anywhere."

Was making a good impression at work important enough to scorn your family? She had loved the Weasley family ever since she had climbed onto the Hogwarts Express for the first time. Mrs. Weasley had been fussing over Percy, while nine-year-olds Fred and George made faces behind her back. Ron was asking why he couldn't go to Hogwarts as well, and Ginny was being chased by Bill.

Upon seeing that she had smiled, and then had ended up with Percy in a compartment.

Percy.

How was she supposed to go about writing a response? What Percy had done was terrible, but that was all the more reason for her to be civil.

She would simply thank him for telling the truth, then explain that considering the lie they should stop seeing each other.

And then what?

She had been so sure that Percy was going to propose. Well, he might still, but she couldn't say yes under good conscience. Besides, he wasn't worth her love if he had done something like that. Neither were his stupid glasses.

So ha, take that.

Well, she might as well write him a reply. She really wasn't looking forward to whatever he was going to send back. If you upset one of her children, you upset Molly Weasley, and Penelope knew that whatever she ended up saying would upset Percy greatly.

She took out a quill and a roll of parchment, aware of Hermes's stare waiting for her to tie the letter to his leg.

_Percy – _

You sodding git, I ca-

No. No insults. Civil.

_Dear Perce – _

Thank you for being honest with me. I love y-

No! Where had _that_ come from? I love you? All right, just try again. Remember, he's not worth of your love. You shouldn't and do not love him.

Suddenly words from her past came to mind. "I don't know what to tell you, Ginny. Love isn't a faucet, you can't turn it on and off at will." That had happened the summer after she had graduated, and Ginny had asked her how to stop fancying Harry.

Well, maybe she was just being philosophical. Maybe if you wanted to badly enough you could turn love off.

_Dear Percy – _

Thank you for finally being honest with me about your family. I know that must have taken a lot of courage to do. However, in light of this, I feel that my trust in you has been broken, and maybe it would be better if we stopped seeing each other.

What next… "Let's be friends" was overdone and just plain cruel. Hmm…well, she couldn't ever remember writing him a letter without saying she was thinking about him.

_I'll always be here if you need to talk to me._

Love,

Penelope

Well, that wasn't so bad, now was it? No insults, no ridiculous proclamations of love, and no double meanings.

Penelope folded up the letter, addressed it to Percy, and tied to Hermes's leg. "You want an owl treat for the road?" she asked, patting his head. Hermes clicked his beak in a sort of dignified way. "All right, I'll go get you one."

She watched the owl fly off and sighed to herself. She would miss that bird, such a hilarious copy of his owner in so many ways.

Argh. Thinking good things about Percy again.

"Penelope!"

Angelina Johnson in the next room read for lunch. Oh thank _Merlin_. Release from her insanity.

She headed to the living area to greet her friend, and stopped short in surprise. Angelina was standing next to Fred.

Fred Weasley.

Percy Weasley's brother.

Bloody hell.

"Fred! Ange! How are you?"

"Fantastic Penny dear," Fred said airily and Angelina jabbed her elbow into his ribs so forcefully that Penelope was surprised they didn't crack. He must have received a lecture about not bringing Percy into the conversation.

Luckily for Fred, Penelope laughed (feeling she really must be going mental). "Great. Ready for lunch?"

It appeared that the jab to the ribs was painful enough for Fred to stop teasing Percy. "Is Ron thick?" he asked brightly. 

Angelina didn't think that merited a rib jab, so they went to lunch. Afterwards they strolled up and down Diagon Alley. 

Finally Fred asked, "Have you broken things off with my git of a brother?" Then took a step deftly to the right.

"Erm, well, uh…you see – yes."

"Brilliant," he grinned. Then, "He'll be in a right state when we get home. Ange, are you sure we can't eat at your house tonight?"

"Your Mum is cooking," she replied, causing Fred to get sort of a glazed look, and Angelina to roll her eyes. "Speaking of which, we should probably head back now."

So, Penelope bid them farewell and went back home. She entered cautiously, afraid that Hermes would swoop down on her with a letter rolls and rolls of parchment long. For the rest of the evening she glanced around expecting the owl, but by the time she went to be she was still (blissfully) letter free.

The next morning Penelope was awakened not by the sunlight, but a light tapping sound. She sat up with a groan and squinted at the flapping figure of Hermes. Great.

She opened the window and Hermes dutifully stuck out his leg. "Thanks," she yawned. The owl hooted then soared out the window.

"Let's get this over with," she murmured.

_Penelope – _

My mother was wondering if you'd be willing to join us for dinner at the Burrow this Friday. Ginny said she would be visiting you later, so don't worry about owling a reply.

Thanks,

Percy

She stared at the words in disbelief. Dinner? With the Weasleys? Mrs. Weasley wasn't going to kill her? Well, she decided, dinner was a very nice alternative to being buried in the garden. Or maybe they were inviting her over with the intent to kill.

Well, she was still obviously going round the bend. The Weasleys would kill her.

…Would they?

No, they wouldn't. After all, Fred had been perfectly nice to her. 

But he was always perfectly nice!

Well, they couldn't dispose of her if Percy loved her. Mrs. Weasley wouldn't dare to kill someone that meant so much to one of her sons.

His letter hadn't been signed, "With love" or, "All my love" or anything though…

Oh, she was being silly. Of course the Weasleys wouldn't kill her, of course Percy still loved her, and of course she would have dinner with them!

Who wouldn't want the company of a polite, intelligent, former Ravenclaw Head Girl with even teeth?

No one, that was who.

She had just put on the coffeepot when there came knocking at the door. "Come in!" she called.

Ginny Weasley entered the kitchen, and took a seat at the table. "So," she said. "Are you going to have dinner with us on Friday?"

"Yes, of course."

Ginny looked surprised, and raised an eyebrow. "You are? Why? Don't feel obligated to because of my git of a brother."

"Well if you don't want me to then I won't."

"I wasn't saying that," Ginny said quickly and Penelope had to suppress a laugh. "What I meant was, I don't want you to go for the wrong reasons."

Penelope was touched. "Well, if agreeing to eat dinner with the family because all of you aren't gits is the wrong reason then I'll stay home."

Ginny laughed. "I think it's the perfect reason. Mum'll be over the moon about it."

Oh, good, so Mrs. Weasley wasn't secretly plotting to Avada Kedavra her.

"So will Percy," Ginny added with a snigger.

Penelope's heart leapt in her chest. She hadn't seen Percy in weeks, and it was nice to know that he was looking forward to seeing her, even after she had him that letter and everything…

No. Nonononononono. She did _not_ want to see him, she did _not_ care if he wanted to see her, and under no circumstances did she forgive him.

Ginny's laughter broke through her thoughts.

"What?"

"You-" Ginny started snorting. "You still-" she broke off into fits of giggles. "You still love him, don't you?"

"What? No!"

But this just caused Ginny to start laughing even harder. Oy. Well, how was she supposed to convince the entire family that she didn't love Percy when she was having a time of it convincing herself?

"Please, do you think I could still love him after what he did?"

"Love is not a faucet, Penny," Ginny grinned at her.

Penelope gaped.

"Well, I should be getting back home. I'll see you on Friday." And before Penelope could comes to her senses and say something really witty, Ginny had gone.

You still love him, don't you?

What an unfair accusation!

She felt the same as she had when they had been in Arithmancy together third year. Which, was a deep loathing considering he was a pompous know-it-all sod. NOT (as many suspected) a deep and undying love.

Leave fairy tales to the children and the abnormal.

Although she wasn't exactly normal, now was she?

Bah.

Friday happened much sooner than Penelope had expected and before she knew it, she was on the Burrow's front doorstep.

The door opened to reveal Percy, and her heartbeat immediately sped up. He held out his hand and for one second she though he had gotten her a present. The chocolate frog card she needed, or an obscure text she had wanted to read. For one second she felt incredibly dense for not remembering to get him something, as they always did when they saw each other.

Then she realized that he wanted to shake her hand.

"Hello Percy," she said.

"Penn-" he struggled "-elope. Come in, Mum's just about finished."

She entered the house and fought the urge to wrap her arms around Percy for no good reason and tell him something utterly ridiculous. 

_You don't love him_, she reminded herself.

When they entered the kitchen, Mrs. Weasley didn't glance up from the food, but did smile brightly. "Lovely to see you again Penelope dear. Supper's almost ready, but Hermione is in the living room. Percy, could you please call your siblings in? They're playing Quidditch in the clearing next to the Willow."

"Sure," Percy agreed. He pointed to the right. "Go that way when you get into the family room," he said, then headed towards the screen door.

Penelope walked towards the living room, reveling in the Weasley household. It wasn't overlarge, and certainly wasn't neat and tidy, but it was…cozy. And lived in. She loved how the rooms were connected without use of doors and how you got enveloped when sitting on a couch. In fact, she was fairly certain that there wasn't one exact measurement or straight line in the entire house.

She found Hermione immersed in a thick dusty tome. However, when she entered, Hermione closed the book and smiled at her. "Hello Penelope."

"Hello Hermione. Did you make prefect again?"

Hermione nodded proudly. "Dumbledore made Ron prefect again too," she said, a little distastefully.

Penelope smiled. She had once been like Hermione. When she and Percy had been in Arithmancy together third year, they had bickered all the time. She thought he was a pompous, egotistical, know-it-all, while he had argued that she was a goof-off and undedicated. 

The both of them loved the class though, if not each other, and the fighting grew more and more frequent, until they couldn't see each other without spitting insults.

Then, in their fifth year, she remembered entering the Prefect's car on the train, eager to see whom the other's were.

"Percy?"

"Penelope?"

"Oh no," they had groaned together.

That had all changed during the course of the year. She wondered if it would take Ron and Hermione until their seventh year or not.

"How is everybody?" Penelope asked.

Hermione looked a little uneasy. "Percy's not doing too well," she sighed heavily. "When your letter came the other day he, well he didn't take it too well. I-I've never seen anybody cry like that before." She looked as if she were recounting a sad movie she had recently seen. "He still loves you, you know."

"Er…" she was spared responding when a dirt covered Ginny entered the room.

"Dinner's ready," she announced. 

Percy came in immediately afterwards. "Ginny, you have to go get washed up, and then clean up the mess you left in the kitchen. Mum's going ballistic."

Ginny rolled her eyes. "What's the big deal? It's just a bit of mud." But she turned around and clomped towards the kitchen.

"You should probably wash up as well," he said, addressing Penelope and Hermione. "Mum'll have a fit if you don't."

"You know," Hermione whispered as they stood up to exit the room. "Everybody deserves a second chance."

So, the entire world thought that she was still in love with Percy Weasley (and his glasses). Well, they were sorely mistaken.

She sat down at the dinner table and before she could blink Fred was sitting to her left, and George to her right.

"Hello," Fred said brightly.

"Dinner's going to be splendid, you know," George told her.

"Yeah, Mum's really outdone herself."

"The Git told her all your favorite foods."

"He's been a nutter all day."

"And the entirety of his life, for that matter."

Percy took a seat diagonal and to the right of her, as Bill had already seated himself across the table. Penelope thought she could see Percy making nasty faces at his bothers, but was soon occupied by Fred and George, and when she escaped them, Bill took her up in conversation.

Dinner was delicious. Mrs. Weasley really had made all her favorite dishes, better than the house elves even. She said so and Mrs. Weasley turned a bit red. "Thank you dear, but I'm not sure my cooking amounts to that."

They were all sitting quietly (that being a relative word when dealing with the twins) around the table, too stuffed full of good cooking to say much, when Percy stood up.

"Would you like to go on a walk?" he asked.

She knew the question shouldn't have surprised her, and that she should have been expecting Percy to pull her aside to talk somehow, but for once her Ravenclaw wit had failed her.

"Oh. Well…"

"Go ahead dear," Molly Weasley insisted. "We'll have dessert ready for you when you get back."

"All right then. I'd love to go on a walk." Penelope stood up, heart pounding wildly and attempted a relaxed smile.

Fred and George catcalled as they reached the top of the hill. Penelope just caught Mrs. Weasley nervously telling them off before they were blocked from view.

As they went on she caught Percy looking at her tersely, while she attempted not to go red and concentrated on slowing down her heartbeat.

They stopped under a willow tree as the sun was setting and Percy cleared his throat a few times. "Penelope."

"Percy." She forced herself to meet his gaze. "What is it?"

"Will you let me explain myself?"

She remembered the last time he had asked her that. In their sixth year, when they had still been constantly bickering friends.

_"Penny, please!"_

"Don't call me Penny! You, you-"

"Just let me explain myself!"

"Why should I listen to one word you say?"

"Penny, Penelope, I, I love you."

"And why wouldn't I?"

He smiled, although it was more out of fear and hope then happiness. "Thank you. Let's see…" he ran hand through his fiery locks.

She decided to help him start. "Did you ever realize that you were being a horrible prat, or did you only change your mind when You-Know-Who almost killed Harry?" she asked the question as if she were commenting on the rain.

"It was right before the Hogwarts school year started. During Harry's trial. At that time I was still uncertain about whether You-Know-Who was back, and so although I didn't trust Fudge anymore, I had to keep up appearances."

"Of course," Penelope muttered.

Percy started pacing. "By November I was so tired of Fudge that I knew Harry would have to be right. It was too late then. How was I supposed to leave the Ministry? Would my own family even take me back?"

"So you won their hearts by slamming the door in your mother's face?" Penelope asked dryly.

"No. No I-" his voice cracked "-I was afraid. You-Know-Who had returned, and the Ministry refused to admit it. So, it would be easy to place spies there, wouldn't it? I figured that it would also be reasonable that I was being watched, with the connections to the family.

"I thought that if my family did take me back, then he would be able to, well, kill them. Well, I obviously couldn't go to you, in case the same thing happened. 

"That meant I couldn't voice my opinions to Fudge. Otherwise I'd be fired and have no place to go. Then who knew what would happen from there. It seemed the only way to keep everybody I love alive was to continue my role as being dutiful to the Ministry." He sighed and lowered his head. "I'm sorry."

Penelope was floored. The explanation made sense; it sounded like a conclusion that few but Percy could come to, but still…

"You left your family."

He kicked the ground. "I know. I wish…I wish I could have had the strength to stand up for Dumbledore, but I was so overjoyed that I hadn't been fired that I lost my head. And then Dad started yelling at me, and I lost my temper as well. You know, Weasley anger. I didn't mean to say those things, storm out like that, but by the time I wanted to apologize I knew that they wouldn't want to talk to me."

"Oh Percy, don't be ridiculous. Your family would have-"

"Still been angry with me," he interrupted. "It would have just caused another row, probably ten times worse. Things could have been even more ruined than they already were."

She could see his point. In fact, she could see all his points. That was her Perce.

He took his stare off the ground and focused on her. "I don't expect you to forgive me, but, well, if you would just take this. You could keep it tucked away in some obscure place, but if you would just accept it, then I promise never to bother you again." At first she thought he would procure the present he hadn't given her when she first arrived. 

"Perce, it's a…" she gasped at the velvet box.

"I was planning on giving it to you when my family forgave me," he said, voice trembling.

She took the box from his hand and opened in disbelief. Inside was a ring that she would never have dreamed of getting. Especially not from Percy. "It's beautiful." How much had it cost him? Most likely, too much. 

"I would have given you my Mum's, but I knew that all my other brother's will be using it as well." 

"Perce…it…oh…" she took the ring out of the box and stared at it for a moment. Then, with a smile, she slipped it on her finger. "I'd be honored to wear your mother's ring, but until you get it from her, this piece of junk will have to do."

Percy stood there gaping at her.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I forgot I was supposed to cry yes and fall into your embrace."

"You…"

She laughed, "Yes!" Percy came to his senses and pulled her in for a kiss. Years of memories came flooding back to her in a rush. Including fist fighting, name calling, the time she had turned his hair purple, and the first time they had ever kissed. 

Suddenly, it didn't matter that he had run away from his family, or doubted Dumbledore, or pretended that he fully supported Fudge. In fact, she felt that she wouldn't care in the least if he admitted that he helped You-Know-Who (oh to hell with it, Voldemort) rise to power again. Although she knew in the back of her (sane again) mind that he hadn't.

When they finally pulled apart, Percy was still looking at her bewilderedly. 

"I can't believe you said yes."

"Well," she straightened up and pretended to push a pair of glasses up the bridge of her nose. "Every point you make is always so concrete, and while you were talking I realized that thinking I wouldn't marry you was an illogical conclusion. Therefore, my saying yes finally proved you wrong."

Percy's face broke out into his first true grin of the night. "Good. I wouldn't want to marry a woman who said yes because of her heart. The mind, and good logical thinking, that's what I love." The two of them smiled daftly at each other. "And you, Penny. I love you."

"I know," she said. "I love you back, even with those ridiculous glasses."

When they returned later, Fred and George were gaping.

"You agreed to _marry_ him?" Fred asked incredulously. 

"Is there a history of madness in your family?" George inquired.

Mrs. Weasley, however, met them with giant hugs, and soon the rest of the family (including a still amazed Fred and George) offered congratulations.

"Penelope, I hope you know what your doing." Ginny said, hugging her.

"Oh, I do. Besides, forgiveness is a virtue." She winked at Hermione. "And anyway, everybody deserves a second chance."


End file.
